The babysitting conundrum
by TragediesPainfulKiss
Summary: Leonard rubbed the bridge of his nose as he stood in the doorway of Sheldon's room. The taller man was sitting on his carpet, a pout on his face as he glared up at Leonard and Penny. Kripke had played, hat he thought was a harmless joke at the time, and had spiked one of Sheldon's yohoo's with a mind-altering drug from the chemist department.


Leonard rubbed the bridge of his nose as he stood in the doorway of Sheldon's room. The taller man was sitting on his carpet, a pout on his face as he glared up at Leonard and Penny. Kripke had played, hat he thought was a harmless joke at the time, and had spiked one of Sheldon's yohoo's with a mind-altering drug from the chemist department. Kripke, when caught, had explained that it would only last three days at the most and insisted that it was harmless. But when Sheldon had thrown what could only be described as a tantrum, it became clear that the side-effects were harmful...at least to Leonard who had to force Sheldon home at their bosses orders. Not that Leonard would have waited for permission.

Now, as he and Penny looked down exasperated (armed only with the chemists assurances and instructions), he sighed. "Sheldon Lee Cooper, that is not how you behave in a car!" Leonard scolded. "And you know that." Sheldon had, for the whole car-ride, kicked and screamed like a four-year old. All because Leonard had dragged him to the car and forcibly buckled him. Refusing to stop for ice-cream had only added to the problem, and by the time Leonard had got Sheldon home, he had to have Penny come down to help drag the crying Sheldon upstairs. As soon as the couple had opened the door, Sheldon broker away and locked himself in his room before Sheldon or Penny could stop him. Thankfully Penny knew how to open a door with only a bobby-pin, and now there they were.

"And you know not to bite and scratch!" Leonard continued. "Especially not at Penny!"

"Get out of my room!" Sheldon ordered, his arms crossed over his chest. "I hate you!"

Leonard could feel his face turn red and was grateful when Penny took over. The blonde marched right over to Sheldon and kneeled so she could be eye-level. "Sheldon," Penny hesitated, uncomfortable as Leonard felt, before jumping in. "You need to stop this behavior, now. Or..." Penny had a firm look on her face, her Nebraska kicking in. "I'll put you in time-out."

Sheldon looked up at that, his teary face full of fear as he clearly believed Penny's threat- and Leonard couldn't blame him. Penny looked as firm as Mary Cooper. "No. I don't want a time-out..." He moaned, wiping his face with a sleeve.

"Now apologize to Leonard and I and we'll get you cleaned up and have some lunch." Penny added gently, handing Sheldon a kleenex.

"Are you going to tell my mama?" Sheldon asked, looking up at Leonard.

Leonard nodded. "You're her son and she'll want to know what's happened."

Sheldon started to cry again. "But she'll be mad at meee..." He complained. "She'll spank me for tantruming..."

Leonard shook his head and kneeled on Sheldon's other side. "I won't tell her about the tantrum if you promise to behave from now on." He finished, patting Sheldon's back. It was hard to be upset with the man. Sheldon had always been a sort of man-child, and now he was more-so. He really was just a child, and he and Penny were already used to taking care of him. This was just a small deviance away from what was normal. And Leonard could deal with change easier than Sheldon could. Sheldon would surely take his loss of control badly, but there wasn't much that could be done about that.

"I'm sorry Penn-Penny and Leonard." Sheldon insisted, allowing Penny to wipe his face clear without protest. Clearly Penny's threat of a time-out did it's job. "Can-can we eat now?"

Penny nodded and stood up along with Sheldon. Grabbing his hand Penny led him out of the room before looking back at Leonard with a question on her face.

Holding up the phone Leonard mouthed, 'mother.' Penny nodded and led Sheldon to the kitchen.

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As soon as Penny had left, Leonard shut the door and speed-dialed Sheldon's mother. He had had to call her countless times before, but this was different. He wasn't telling on Sheldon this time.

"Hello, Mary?" Leonard asked, unsure of his this conversation was going to go.

"Oh, Leonard! How are you?" Mary asked, her twang jovial as she spoke.

"I'm...I'm good." Leonard managed, tensing up as he heard Sheldon's mother sigh.

"Oh, what has my boy gotten into now?"

"Well...this time it wasn't his fault. You see...theres been an accident. Sheldon's been...regressed to a toddler-state. Penny and I will take care of him, but I thought you should know. He'll be back to normal soon." He added, quickly.

"Regressed? But how?" Mary gasped. "Oh nevermind my silly questions...I'll never be able to understand your explanations anyhow." Mary muttered. "I'll be down as soon as I can," She assured, despite Leonard telling her it would wear off soon, "But in the meantime I suppose you should know about Sheldon's childhood quirks and routines."

Leonard nodded, listening for a good half-hour as Mary listed off specific instructions on how to manage until she got there. Leonard was grateful for the advice. He knew how to deal with a semi-grown Sheldon, but not with a child Sheldon.

"Well, I left Penny to feed Sheldon lunch while I talked with you and from what you told me I should probably be there for clean-up."

"Oh, my yes. He's quite the kicker, and yelling, and biter..." Mary added. "Just be firm with him. Alright, I'll let you go now."

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"No!" Sheldon yelled, pushing at Penny's arm as she attempted to clean his face with a wet paper towel. Sheldon was covered in red sauce, and Penny was now as Sheldon smacked at her with saucey hands. The blonde was clearly running out of patience. While Leonard knew she was never one to take much crap, her tender-motherly side was taking over and allowing Sheldon to walk all over her. "No, Penny!" Sheldon squealed again, this time hitting her in her face in his frustration. While it was not mean-spirited, the behavior was still unacceptable.

"Sheldon, honey." Penny sighed, rubbing her now-saucey cheek. "No." She said softly, attempting to put the wet paper towel to his face again. "That's not how we act."

Sheldon's only response was to stick out his tongue. "You're not my mommy! You can't tell me what to do!" Sheldon pushed at Penny. "I want ice-cream!"

"Sheldon Lee Cooper!" Leonard yelled, putting on a firm voice. It was enough to make both Sheldon and Penny stop. "Go and sit in a corner!"

"No!" Sheldon yelled, kicking at Leonard as he came closer. "You're not my daddy! You can't tell me what to do!" He insisted, kicking as Leonard grabbed his arm firmly.

"Sheldon Lee Cooper, you go and find a corner right now!" Leonard ordered, having pulled him into the living room.

"Pennyyyy?" Sheldon whined, hugging her tightly. "Leonard's being mean." He wailed, crying harder.

"Leonard...maybe we should let this one slide..." She asked, looking tenderly on Sheldon.

Leonard shook his head. "You know we need to establish boundaries right away, or else he'll walk all over us. The same as any child."

Penny nodded, she knew as well as Leonard did that Sheldon could become difficult. "Sheldon Lee Cooper," She pointed at a vacant corner, "Go and sit, now." Her voice was the firm voice she reserved only for rare occasions.

"No! No, no, no, no! I don't like you." Sheldon insisted, flailing as Penny grabbed at him. But she was strong and with Leonard's help Sheldon was going to sit in time-out. Leonard was being patient as he could, but when Sheldon hit Penny hard enough to make her nose bleed- he had had enough.

Leonard brought a hard smack down on Sheldon's backside, earning a howl from Sheldon who flailed more as Penny held him in place. It took another four smacks before Sheldon stopped flailing and protesting. Leonard gave an extra smack for good measure before walking Sheldon over to the corner and sitting him down. As Penny went to care for her nose, Leonard knelt beside Sheldon. "You're going to sit in time-out because of your behavior when Penny tried to clean you up, and because you were kicking and biting. You hit Penny's nose- that is not okay either." Leonard found it was hard to to place the crying kid in timeout but he soldiered on. "You are too sit quietly and stay until Penny and I come get you."

Sheldon's only response was to nod petulantly before Leonard left to check on Penny.

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Penny and Leonard had just finished cleaning up the kitchen mess, when Bernadette, Howard and Raj came through the door.

"How is he?" Bernadette asked, concern in her voice.

"How are you?" Howard amended, looking at Penny's swollen nose and Leonards tired face.

"He's been... a handful." Penny offered, taking the cake Raj had made and setting it on a counter.

"So he's been Sheldon." Howard joked. "Where is he now?"

"Time-out." Leonard explained, looking at his watch. "Actually, his time is up."

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Sheldon looked up when Penny and Leonard settled next to him. As soon as they had kneeled he wrapped his arms around Penny and the Leonard. "I'm sorry I hit you." He sniffed truthfully.

"Why were you put in time-out?" Leonard coaxed, gently.

"Cause I tantrumed...and hit Penny's nose." He muttered, looking disappointed in himself. "I'm just frustrated." He explained.

"I know, honey. But you can't behave that way." Penny assured, patting him on the head. "Now, you can come out."

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As soon as Sheldon had cuddled a few moments with Sheldon and Penny he realized that Bernadette, Raj, and Howard were there. Seated on the couch in the living room. He felt embarrassed that they saw the tantrum but he ignored that fact and sat between Raj and Howard, snuggling in the Indian man.

"Leonard hit me." He tattled as Bernadette left to help Penny and Leonard in the kitchen.

"He hit you?" Raj asked, cuddling Sheldon closer in a motherly way.

Sheldon nodded. "Hard. Then he made me sit."

"And why was that?" Howard and Raj asked firmly.

"I hurt Penny's nose...and tantrumed." He answered reluctantly, not liking when Raj and Howard's looks turned from gentle to firm.

"You're just lucky it wasn't a full spanking." Ra chided, while rustling Sheldon's hair.

"And that it wasn't Penny." Howard added.

"You won't spank me?" Sheldon asked hopefully, sucking a thumb.

"Only if you really need it." Raj assured, not making Sheldon feel any better.


End file.
